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Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Ergh... I've been super quiet of lately, mostly due to having one hell of a head cold recently and staying home from work and resting.
I've been rugged up and slathering on the Vicks and eating lots of warming soups. I managed to make these house slippers to keep my toes warm. They are quite ugly and remind me of Oscar the Grouch, which is appropriate seeing I felt quite grouchy while I was ill!

These knitted slippers are super quick to make and are easy too. If you would like to try your hand at making some too, you can check out my project page on Ravelry which links to the pattern.

Friday, June 15, 2012

Everywhere I look, I am seeing crazy fluorescent colours, usually teamed up with a neutral gray or beige so that they pop out. Maybe it's a little throwback to the 80s of wearing gray sweat pants and fluoro socks? I'm not sure but I have to say that I get very excited when I see wool, yes real wool, not acrylic, in super bright colours.

I got my hands on a gorgeous hand dyed and spun fluoro yellow yarn,
though only a small amount and decided to have some fun knitting up
these mittens. I think that they are pretty cute and hopefully would be
enough to hail a taxi in the streets of New York.

These mittens may of been inspired by this amazing blanket that featured on the Purl Bee website, I did see this project a while ago and immediately fell in love with it. You can read about the project here.

It is so simple but so incredibly effective and the basic gray allows the thin lines of yellow to take over. It's simply gorgeous! If you are after some pretty fab fluoro yarns, Purl Soho has a fantastic range that will definitely make your eyes pop!

Thursday, June 14, 2012

So, I had been getting a few headaches and finding it quite difficult to focus my eyes for long periods of time on the computer so I decided to go and have my eyes tested. I should point out that I really can't remember getting my eyes tested, which means that it was far too long ago!
I underwent a whole bunch of tests, some were a little nicer than others and they photographed my eyes. Gee, eye tests are alot more high tech than they used to be! The outcome was that I have enlarged optic nerves, a high eye pressure and a sun spot on one eye. The other outcome is that I now have to wear glasses for working on the computer, knitting, weaving and all that close up stuff.
I naturally had to select some totally cute leopard print frames and hope for the best that I don't look too nerdy or hipster like!

However when selecting my 'glasses look' I did have two fashion icons (well glasses icons) in mind. The first was the always beautiful Isabelle Adjani and her look in Roman Polanski's The Tenant. I always loved her look in this film and her glasses just added to her beauty.

Isabelle Adjani in the Tenant.

My other fashion/glasses icon is the amazing Iris Apfel. Now in her early 90s, Iris has an amazing style and love of colour and life and her oversized glasses have become a signature look which others try to imitate. I really want to be like Iris when I grow up!

So, glasses wearing folk! Who are your glasses style icons? Do you see glasses as an accessory or something you just have to wear? Will we take back the 'spectacle' from the hipsters?!

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Thanks to a very quick thinking friend of mine in Sydney, I am now the proud owner of this gorgeous 1935 Singer 66 Sewing machine. It was a little bit of a feat to get it from Sydney to Melbourne but it arrived and all in one piece!

I've been getting my sewing geek on researching where this machine came from (it appears to have been manufactured in Scotland) and wanted to share the following information about why this machine is still setting standards for sewing.

The Singer 66 or 66K was a heavy duty domestic sewing machines that set the standard for several decades, and indeed the Class 66 bobbin and the 66 style rotary hook arrangement are still in use on many ‘new’ sewing machines today. Because the 66K’s were full size machines weighing around 30lbs, they were usually sold in treadle tables or cabinets, although some hand cranked models, and later on some electric models, were also sold.
Surviving serial number records indicate British production of the 66K ran from 1907 until 1939.

When the 66K appeared it was considered an engineering masterpiece, able to sew any thickness of fabric from fine silk to heavy canvas. The 66K first introduced the horizontally mounted rotary hook arrangement with drop in bobbins. A system which still survives in so many sewing machines from all makers today. This setup made loading the bobbin into the machine considerably easier than the earlier Singer 127 and 128K’s Vibrating Shuttle machines, or the 15K which had a fiddly bobbin holder which had to be clipped into position under the bed.

The stitch produced by the 66K was described as ‘near perfect’ and with the large harp clearance space it was a great favourite with tailors and seamstresses. Two basic weakness of the Singer 66K design were that it did not have a reverse feed feature and it was unable to drop its feed dogs, which meant that a cover plate of some kind had to be used for embroidery or darning.
The first Singer 66K’s made at the Kilbowie plant in Scotland wore ‘Lotus’ flower decals. Later these were replaced with the ‘Sphinx’, which had been used on the 15K. Both of these patterns are popular with collectors. Later models of the 66K wear the rather plainer basic decal that was also used on the Singer 99K. ( info care of http://www.singersewinginfo.co.uk/66/)

I'm looking forward to giving this baby a good clean and get it up and running!

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Well, I think that I set myself quite the task to complete all the things on this list! Was I crazy? Probably! However I did manage to get three projects completed and a good dent on the others.

So this is what was completed?!

The green cowl (as modelled by my husband) was the first thing off the list. I actually thought that it was a mustard colour for some reason but really it's much more green. When I looked at the yarn colour it is called lemongrass. It's super big and warm and was a great no-brainer knit.

The great Marriage Sweater was finally completed. This took me such a long time to knit, mostly because I got distracted with other projects and left it for ages, much to my husbands disgust! I even had to completely re-knit a sleeve and alter the pattern! What a chore! But it is done now and looks great and I'm so pleased to see Mark wearing it around. He said that the wool is super soft on his skin which is great as I know that guys hate a scratchy sweater! I am now inspired to knit another big project for Mark...

I finished the second sock on these cute Knit Pick striped yarn socks. I love this 5ply yarn for socks as it's so quick to knit up and the colours are great!

So what wasn't completed?!

Well, I started on the second sock of Mark's in the lovely Opal yarn. I can't believe how fine this knit is! It will take some time and my new glasses will help me get through this. Not completed but started! I also managed to keep going on my Marimekko inspired cowl. I'm looking forward to finishing this off to wear.

So, will I make a list for June or am I a little to exhausted from trying to finish off this list? Maybe I will wait until July to see how I'm fairing. The list did inspire me to really try and finish these off so I can recommend anyone wanting to give it a go!